Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 14 Debrief
get a soft reboot on the table, stat.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was the first franchise I ever watched. I remember tuning in for the first episode and watching these glamorous women in real time. I remember the limo scene, the dinner part from hell, eerily watching Taylor and Russel’s relationship fall apart all while knowing what the end result was. I remember Camille Grammar getting torn up on the cover of US Weekly as ‘the most hated Housewife’.
You would think that me being my sensitive, sentimental self would have a special place in my heart for the first franchise I tuned in for but that is quite the opposite.
After 14 years, I’m ready to hang it up.
The show is tired and it’s not the same compared to the good ol’ days.
I recently watched some early seasons featuring Yolanda and was struck at how different the franchise felt. The women used to be friends, they used to have fun, it used to be real.
I sound like everyone I complain about, but ever since Lucy Lucy Apple Juice the 90210 has never been the same. Perhaps that’s because we lost LVP or the Fox Force Five really ingrained themselves into the fabric of the show, even when two of the members are no longer on the cast, or maybe it’s because the show became overly produced thanks to one OG.
Last season was a disgrace— Kyle prancing her girlfriend in front of the camera while pretending that her marriage wasn’t falling apart and then she turned around and filmed for the Netflix and Buying Beverly Hills, spilling more tea than she did in the house that she built.
When news of PK and Dorit’s divorce hit the media, I figured we were in for a treat for season 14, and that lasted one episode.
Seeing Dorit ripping a cig while speeding down the highway and cursing out Kyle Richards gave me hope that this year would be different. This would be the year where we cracked everything open. It ended up being the complete opposite.
I won’t lie — I didn’t watch a lot of the season and mainly relied on podcast recaps to get me by. I simply could not watch Kyle and Maurico stare at each other across a kitchen island or listen to Sutton’s whiny, southern accent for another minute. I grew tired of watching Erika decorate her house and as sad as I am to see her go, I was exhausted by Garcelle confessional shade and her inability to say things in the moment.
Kyle Richards is the last OG standing. I’ve enjoyed watching her since the first episode but she was never going to hold a cast down the way Teresa or Vicki did. That was a job for Lisa Vanderpump and as much as I dislike that British bitch, she was the real center diamond.
She has not bled for this show (realistically, no one has bled for Beverly Hills since Taylor Armstrong or Kim Richards) but instead has sold out her friends and family for the sake of entertainment while hiding behind the facade of a picture perfect life. She is protected by production, by Andy, and by being an OG and the idea that she has sacrificed so much but there is no proof in the pudding.
Kyle needs to go, at the very least she needs to take a break. She is not willing to share her life anymore and that’s fine, but then make space on the couch.
When it comes to the other ladies… Garcelle has always been a favorite of mine but something about her seemed off from the first episode. She didn’t feel grounded or centered — it felt like she didn’t want to be there and I don’t blame her. I’m happy she left on her own accord because if the reunion was any indication, she was not going to have a good season 15 — they were coming for her like hungry wolves, and it was going to get ugly.
Erika started out as a great Greek chorus and nice middle man between Kyle and Dorit but that couldn’t last very long because at about the halfway point, she started complaining about how she was treated during her divorce, and we ended up right back where we started.
Sutton has grown on me over the years but this year, something about her was so grating. I don’t know if it was the wallet comment (which I did not like because it didn’t land well and didn’t make sense in the argument) or the need to kiss Kyle’s ass, but she lost me.
I usually find Kathy Hilton to be incredible comic relief and I figured Jennifer Tilley would be the same, but they both fell flat for me this year but that could’ve been because of the sour taste the season as a whole left in my mouth.
I liked Boz for most of it and really loved how she came in strong for Dorit. She needed that, she needed a friend to feel safe with and I think that’s a big reason we got the Dorit we did. I have hated Dorit for a long time but I did feel bad when Kyle claimed they weren’t really friends because you felt how hurt she was. It was just sad.
Dorit carried this season on her back — she did a complete 180 towards a different and almost more sincere Dorit. She came in knowing she had to earn her place and that she did, it earned her first chair next to Andy at the reunion.
As for the reunion, it didn’t need to be 3 parts. I didn’t need to hear about Tom Giardi again or talk about the women all being horny.
We’ve indulged in the same conversations for three hours with nothing to show for it. We’ll never know what happened with Kyle and Maurico, Erika still thinks she was done wrong, Dorit’s anger is misplaced (though very enjoyable) and Sutton is crying and carrying on for no reason. None of this is good, none of it makes sense and something needs to change.
Overall, the season was boring. It was probably one of the worst seasons in recent history with the only memorable thing being Dorit smoking a cig. Sure, there was some emotional moments with Sutton and her mom, Boz telling the story of her late husband but realistically, a bunch of nothing happened. We talked in circles around already exhausted topics and nothing new came to light.
It’s time for Bravo to call time of death on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. They need an Atlanta, Potomac and Orange County style shakeup. We cannot move forward with this group, minus Garcelle for another year. We need to let the women breathe, we need to find new stories to tell.
Get rid of Erika and Kyle, demote Sutton, bring back Crystal and add some more people to the mix.
The Fox Force Five era of this show needs to end because it is holding us hostage. No one is allowed to think or feel or move differently than Erika, Kyle and Dorit, and it needs to be buried.
I want real friendships, I want fun, I want Hollywood. I want real problems that don’t involve orphans and widows. I want something less sensationalized with people who aren’t afraid to talk about their real lives, who don’t get incredibly defensive at every turn.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills are continually the weakest women walking — they are too sensitive, too safe and too uptight. That energy needs to be swept out.
It’s time to truly wrap it up and do a cast shake up.